Scottish Animal Welfare Commission: welfare of animals as sentient beings - activity review 2025

7. UK Legislation and Policy Affecting Scotland

The Scottish Government has continued its discussions with other administrations on possible reforms to animal transport legislation.

Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Enforcement Regulations 2024

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Enforcement Regulations 2024 came into force on 11 November 2024, making provision in relation to the enforcement of the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act 2024 which prohibits the export of horses and livestock from GB to countries outside the UK for the purposes of slaughter or fattening. Further work is proceeding with other UK administrations on arrangements to ensure equine exports are not for slaughter.

Welfare of Animals (Transport) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Following a GB consultation and with the agreement of Scottish Ministers, the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 came into force on 22 July 2025. These amended assimilated Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 to exclude birds of the species Gallus gallus (i.e. laying hens and meat chickens) and turkeys from the prohibition in paragraph 1.8(d) of Chapter 3 on the lifting of animals by the legs in England, Wales and Scotland. Lifting of birds of the species Gallus gallus and turkeys up to 5kg by both legs while inverted is permitted. The SAWC consultation response agreed that the amendments were necessary to clarify the legal requirements for the manual catching of chickens for the purpose of loading and unloading for transport. However, noting the robust evidence that catching poultry by their legs can result in welfare compromise and the opinion of the Animal Welfare Committee, SAWC stated that this should only be for a maximum five-year transition period, during which time the industry must be encouraged to move towards improved welfare practices.

Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill

Following the lodging of a Legislative Consent Memorandum, the Scottish Parliament granted consent on 25 June 2025 for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill. This UK Parliament Private Member’s Bill takes forward proposals to prohibit the import of puppies and kittens less than 6 months old and restrict the import of pregnant animals, and animals with mutilations such as tail docking or de-clawing that are not permitted in the UK. These proposals had been part of a previous UK Government Bill that had also been given legislative consent but was discontinued before the last General Election.

Fairer Food Labelling

A joint UK consultation on country of origin and method of production food labelling ran from 12 March to 7 May 2024. A summary of responses published by the UK government in June 2025 indicated that there was support for changing mandatory country of origin labelling rules to apply to the meat used in minimally processed meat products. There was also strong support for mandatory method of production labelling reform, applicable to both domestically produced and imported products. Supporters cited the potential benefits for animal welfare, consumer transparency, and farmers meeting or exceeding baseline UK welfare regulations. Some respondents, including many from the food industry, opposed further mandatory standards on the grounds of complexity and cost.

In its submission to the consultation, SAWC recommended that labelling should cover processed, minimally processed and unprocessed foods from both domestic and imported sources. SAWC noted that the life an animal leads before being killed is an important factor in any animal-origin food – the use to which the meat is put is less relevant – and expressed the view that all animal derived foods, including fish, should ultimately be covered by welfare labelling.

In its summary of responses, the UK government noted the majority support for country of origin labelling as well as certain risks and barriers. On method of production labelling, the UK government and devolved administrations recognised the strong public support for clearer information on the welfare standards of food, undertaking to consider all views and work with relevant stakeholders as part of the UK government’s development of an overarching approach to animal welfare and the wider food strategy. The Scottish Government’s ongoing work to develop a national Good Food Nation Plan was noted.

SAWC looks forward to seeing progress towards a comprehensive labelling scheme that will assist consumers in making informed decisions about the origins of their food, thereby encouraging continued improvements within the production industry.

ASC report on the due regard to animal welfare

In February 2025, the Animal Sentience Committee (ASC) published its Report on the Due Regard to Animal Welfare - Legislative Compliance and Enforcement. The ASC is a statutory body charged with considering how central government policy decisions take account of animal welfare. The ASC remit only covers Scotland where the issues under consideration are reserved to the UK government (matters of trade or regulation of scientific procedures, for example), but there is considerable commonality of issues north and south of the border, and SAWC takes a keen interest in the work of the ASC.

The ASC concluded that the UK government was paying due regard to animal welfare in policy decisions. However, it found challenges in implementation and enforcement and made a number of recommendations for improvement, including a wholesale review of the enforcement of animal welfare legislation. Among other things, the ASC recommended a central body responsible for directing and coordinating animal welfare law surveillance and implementation, working collaboratively with other governmental organisations and, where necessary, NGOs, along with minimum resource allocation for animal welfare enforcement, a central reporting mechanism for offences and an annual open-access report of animal welfare offence reports, investigations, and prosecutions (or fixed penalty notices, improvement notices). These are all matters that have come up in SAWC’s ongoing work on local authority enforcement and it is clear that agencies across the administrations face similar challenges.

Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain

New GB Standards of modern zoo practice, developed by the Zoos Expert Committee before the last election, were published in May 2025 to come into effect in May 2027.

Castration and tail docking of lambs

The Animal Welfare Committee working group report on castration and tail docking of lambs, which included consideration of alternatives to the conventional rubber ring method, was published by the Scottish Government in September 2023. There has been further detailed discussion of how to take forward the recommendations with other UK administrations and industry stakeholders and a public consultation on the proposals is expected. The use of new alternative methods “Clipfitter” and “Numnuts” that reduce the pain of castration and docking has been encouraged through the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) activity, including publication of a technical note to confirm the legislation in Scotland.

Purchase of the new devices can be funded under the Future Farming Investment Scheme which was open for applications between 14 July and 22 August 2025. SAC Consulting have supported use of the Clipfitter device at events in Shetland and near Inverness. Funding is also available from the Small Producers’ Pilot Fund for veterinary surgeons to raise awareness of the legislation and alternative methods with their clients in Scotland.

Financial support for farmers to undertake specific interventions to improve cattle and sheep animal health and welfare continued as part of the Preparing for Sustainable Farming programme.